A promising way to stop a deadly disease , or an uncomfortable step toward what one leading ethicist called eugenics ?

U.S. health officials are weighing whether to approve trials of a pioneering in vitro fertilization technique using DNA from three people in an attempt to prevent illnesses like muscular dystrophy and respiratory problems . The proposed treatment would allow a woman to have a baby without passing on diseases of the mitochondria , the `` powerhouses '' that drive cells .

The procedure is `` not without its risks , but it 's treating a disease , '' medical ethicist Art Caplan told CNN 's `` New Day '' on Wednesday . Preventing a disease that can be passed down for generations would be ethical `` as long as it proves to be safe , '' he said .

`` These little embryos , these are people born with a disease , they ca n't make power . You 're giving them a new battery . That 's a therapy . I think that 's a humane ethical thing to do , '' said Caplan , the director of medical ethics at New York University 's Langone Medical Center .

`` Where we get into the sticky part is , what if you get past transplanting batteries and start to say , ` While we 're at it , why do n't we make you taller , stronger , faster or smarter ? ' ''

But Susan Solomon , the director of the New York Stem Cell Foundation , said there are no changes to existing genes involved .

`` There is no genetic engineering . It is n't a slippery slope . It 's a way to allow these families to have healthy children , '' said Solomon , whose organization developed the technique along with Columbia University researchers .

`` What we 're doing is , without at all changing the DNA of the mother , just allowing it to grow in an environment that is n't sick , '' she added .

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel concluded two days of hearings into the procedure Wednesday . The panel discussed what controls might be used in trials , how a developing embryo might be monitored during those tests and who should oversee the trials , but no decisions were made at the end of the session .

Mitochondrial disorders are inherited from the mother . In the procedure under discussion in Washington , genetic material from the nucleus of a mother 's egg or an embryo gets transferred to a donor egg or embryo that 's had its nuclear DNA removed .

The real reason behind the multiples baby boom

The new embryo will contain nuclear DNA from the intended father and mother , as well as healthy mitochondrial DNA from the donor embryo -- effectively creating a `` three-parent '' baby .

In June , Britain took a step toward becoming the first country to allow the technique . One in 6,500 babies in the United Kingdom is born with a mitochondrial disorder , which can lead to serious health issues such as heart and liver disease .

Caplan said the same technology could be used to modify an embryo to `` making super babies , '' a practice he said amounted to `` eugenics . ''

`` The big issue over the next 5 to 10 years is going to become how far do we go in pursuit of the perfect baby , '' said Caplan . `` Do I think we 're going down that road ? Yes . Does it creep me out ? Yes . Are you going to be able to draw a clear line ? I do n't think so . ''

But Solomon said the procedure is closer to an expansion of in vitro fertilization , which has been available for nearly 40 years .

`` It 's a complicated science , so people need to understand the particulars of the biology and not jump to calling it something it is n't , '' she said . The last thing she would want , she said , `` is for the New York Stem Cell Foundation to be involved in anything like designer babies . ''

`` I have children and grandchildren , and I ca n't imagine anything worse . ''

Record number of women using IVF to get pregnant

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A 3-person embryo could circumvent mitochondrial diseases

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The procedure is `` not without its risks , '' says ethicist Art Caplan

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Genes are n't altered in the technique , says a stem cell expert